Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-06-15
A TALK TO MorAkas.
Deform!ties OF Chiidren which MayZns
AyoideI By 4 Sercising Rea aona,la Care.


A TALK TO MoTa6Rs.
Deform!ties of Ctiidrea which May-<ha
Avoided by Exercising Iseasonaole Care.
Ono OF the things OF the utmost i'm.
portaGce, If mother would have her
child grow up symmetrical in form, says
Emma q. Hewitt in the PHILADELPHIA
Times, is to watch her baby with uaceas-
ing vigilance during his sieep. Ono able
physician declares that TO carelessnesa
upon this point is due most of tho short
ness OF life not produced by actual dia-
ease. s'Note your chilli woll," sail he TO {,
young mother, "whea he is asleap. If voa
would have him grow up straight You
will find that fron your owa habit of most
conveniently holding him on one particu-
lar side that he will soon grow to prefer
to lie upon one side only.
81 have one patient who is able to nurse
her child only from the right breast, tha
left one having gathered, s.ld the left side.
of that baby's facc is percoptibly smaller
than the right, because from force of
habit he has grown to prefer TO lie upon
his left side, and she has ign orantly per
mitted him TO do So
''Y on viii find, too. that during his sleep
he will draw up habitually one leg if
lying upon one side, the other leg if lying
upon tho other. Turn him often and.
straighten his legs. This will not only,
conduce greatly to his comfort, but much
to your own, for freq uently, when a baby
stirs and seems inclined to wake, it is be-
cause the soft little limbs have grown,
tired from lying in one position. Turn
him over, not too gently, for by this very
caution you will be most likely to wakea.
him, draw down his leg, shake and smooth
his skirts, give him a pat ana ne is or fos
another hours nap"
Indeed, have known babies treated In
this way to sleep along for five or six
hours at q stretch, when otherwise they
would have been up perhaps in half
hour, with only n balf nap. The process
can be repeated with safety justAo long
as the baby viii stay asleep. Very often.
babies waken not because they wish to
rouse at all, but because they want to
turn over ana do not know how TO accom-
plish it.
1t stands to reason that child habitual-
ly lying upon one side should habltually
draw up one particular leg, thus produc-
ing, while the bOnes are soft aud forming,
a lesser or greater difference IN length.
and next children should be put into
short clothes just as soon as PRACTICAL le,
ana should not at any timo be forced to
wear excessively long ones. The weight,
of such garments is very detrimental to
the growth and development of the lower
limbs. These (the lower limbs) should be
well protected but to pvt upon a
little baby two or three skirts, four or
five times as long as tho little fellow him,
self, and keep them in place by pinning
them so tight around him that he can not
breathe, is not protection, it is cruelty
The garments should be so short as to.
insure at least moderate degree of free,
dom of action tyil do th.a kab t,S
go naked a little while each day, to kick
and fence ut his own sweet will. Let the
room be warm, hot if you choose, but let.
the baby kick. Not only viii his lower
limbs be developed by this freedom of ac-
ton, but his lungs will BE- benefi ted, his
chest be expanded and his muscles be-
strengthened in all parts of his body.
Let u.s. now pass on to the timo when
slight defects, either created through
ignorance or Unborn, have taken hold OF
the system.
a mother notices that her four-ycar-old
daughter is acquiring habit of holding
her head slightly upon one side. Still il
looks "cute' and the child is permitted TO
do 1t, without any idea upon her mothers,
part that there may be cause for tho
habit. 1t grows upon her, however and
becomes confirmed. BY the time she Is
seventeen one shoulder is higher than the
other, and she no longer ''looks cuten she
only looks hopeicssly awkward, and the
mother tries by scoiding and threats of
various processes TO break up tho ''ugly
habit" Lo, by some accident it is sud
denly discovered that in all these years,
while this "cute," 'ugly habit" has bcen
forming, the daughter hiss been using but
one eye, the vision of the other being de-
fectiye TO such a degree as to be practio-
ally useless. Had she had spectacles or
Judicious treatment for her eyes when the
'hGblt" first set i'll she would have boen ns
straight as any of her neighbors.
Mary Ann complains of a pain in her
back Her mother says. s'Nonsense
Girls ought not to have any backs" But
hlary Ann's 'back'' remains fixed fact,
nevertheless, spite Of maternal protest
Aunt Jane suggests porous plaster, and,
the pain growing no better, porous plas-
ter is forthwith clapped on, though her.
mother don't approve of coddlng Young
girls" No reiiefl Grandmother suggests
iodine, Uncle John blister and TO make
assurance doubly sure, now that she has
sct about the business OF curing Mary
Ann, she puts on both, much to Nary
Ann's discomfort, but nothing at all to her
relief
Slightly alarmed and almost convinced
that Mary AIMS "backm is no fiction. tho
advice of physician is asked. lie meas
Ures and questions, and says finally..
MADAME, your daughters legs are not
the same length. Raise the heel of ono
shoe and the difficulty will be obviated
every time she takes a step she wrcnches
her spine and jars her whole body. This
in time may produce permanent injuryn
The advice is taken, the mother mean
while biissfully ignorant of the fact that.
probably 20 her own ignorance alone Is
Mary AIMS defective leg duo, aud the
daughter is restored to comfort, and the
family who galway noticed that she set
one heel down kind of heavy, but thought
it was only bad habit" is convince that
Mary AIMS "back' was no sham
It's the lot Of the main boly OF human
ity to endure much physical suffering,
but it is the solemn duty of parents 10 sec
that their children are saved from un-
necessary suffering as far as in them lies,
and careful investigation and adjustment
OF such discrepancies as this may save
your son or daughter years Of discomfort